1. Field
This field is golf, specifically golf club grip alignment
2. Prior Art
Most golf clubs have a hand grip for ease of holding the club. Some grips are not perfectly cylindrical (circular cross-section), because they may have an oval cross-section or they may include a flat designed to assist the golfer in aligning the club with the golf ball to be hit. For example, an iron club has an oval-shaped grip, a putter has a grip with one flat side, and some clubs have raised or grooved patterns, dimples, or other relief on their grips. All these non-cylindrical structures provide tactile feedback in order to assist and assure the golfer's consistent and proper grip on the club. Such non-cylindrical grip designs create a need for reliable and uniform means of aligning the grip to the golf club's face during the installation of the grip, and for reliable and simple means of verifying alignment after the installation.
Most grips are a sleeve of rubber that is permanently attached to the shaft. It cannot be easily twisted after it is installed. However, the manufacturer or installer may imperfectly install the grip, so that the golfer cannot use the club properly. Even worst, the golfer may develop an incorrect way in using a golf club.
To assist the installer in aligning the grips, many grips have small alignment marks on the side of the grip facing upward when the club is held horizontally. The grip is aligned with the face of the golf club head, which contacts the golf ball when the golfer hits the ball. Since the alignment marks and the club head are quite a distance apart, misalignment during grip installation can and often does occur if the alignment is based on visual inspection.
Recognizing the limitation of visually aligning the face of the golf club head with the grip alignment marks, various devices to assist in the grip installation process have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,870,815 to Kamer at al. (Feb. 16, 1999), U.S. Pat. No. 6,415,502 to Gunshinan et al. (Jul. 9, 2002), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,877,201 to Gunshinan et al. (Apr. 12, 2005) disclose mechanical fixtures that can rotate the club head about the shaft axis until the club head is in a correct or desired position. After the golf club is in the correct position, it is ready to receive a grip in a desired, pre-selected position and alignment. A laser line projected by a laser device is superimposed along the shaft axis and passes through the desired position of the grip alignment mark. The installer then aligns the grip alignment mark along the visual laser line. However they use bulky mechanical stations and suffer from the following disadvantages:                (a) the alignment station is not portable,        (b) the alignment station is expensive, and        (c) the alignment station is designed for use by manufacturers and is not for personal use.        